ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team kicks off the final week of the regular season on the road Wednesday, traveling to Midway Stadium for a 2:30 p.m. MIAC doubleheader against Hamline.



The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (8-8 MIAC | 19-16 Overall)
at Hamline Pipers (5-11 MIAC | 15-21 Overall)

GameDay Live On The Web:
Live Stats

Last Action:
The Cardinals picked up a key conference sweep over Augsburg on Sunday, riding the two-hit pitching of Teddy VanRanst (St. Paul, Minn.) to a 2-0 Game 1 win, then completed the sweep with a 6-5, eight-inning victory in the nightcap at Max Molock Field. … Hamline, meanwhile, dropped both games of its conference twinbill against Concordia in Moorhead, Minn., Sunday, as the Cobbers beat the Pipers 3-2 in nine innings and 2-1.

SMU vs. Hamline — Their Last Meeting:
April 25, 2011: Less than a week after being held hitless in a 3-0 loss at Saint John's, the Cardinals managed just two hits off a pair of Hamline pitchers in falling to the Pipers 5-0 in the opener for their MIAC doubleheader at Max Molock Field. The Cardinals' offense didn't heat up much in the second game, either, as Hamline's Cass Kreitlow limited the Cardinals to five hits in fueling the Pipers to a sweep-clinching 6-2 win in the nightcap.

MIAC Playoff Picture:
The conference's post-season tournament is still rather cloudy heading into the final week of the season, but here's what we do know: St. Thomas (16-0 MIAC) has locked up the regular-season title and the No. 1 seed. That's it. There are still six teams — Saint John's (11-5), Concordia (9-7), Bethel (8-8), Saint Mary's (8-8), Augsburg (9-9) and Macalester (9-9) — battling for the final three post-season berths.

Up Next:
The Cardinals close out their regular season on Sunday, when they honor their three graduating seniors — Danny Geraghty (Park Ridge, Ill.), Curt Swanson (Woodbury, Minn.) and Max Ferguson (Arcadia, Wis.) — as part of their 1 p.m. MIAC doubleheader against Carleton. … Hamline, meanwhile, closes out its 2012 season with a conference twinbill against St. Olaf at Midway Stadium. First pitch is set for 2:30 p.m. in St. Paul, Minn.

Saint Mary's Cardinals News and Notes:
2012 Roster | 2012 Statistics | 2012 Schedule | 2012 Media Guide
With their sweep of Augsburg on Sunday, the Cardinals have now won three straight and are 8-2 in their last 10 games. … SMU improved to 19-17 with its 2-0, 6-5 sweep of Augsburg Sunday, giving the Cardinals 19 wins — their most since going 19-15 in 2000. The last time SMU won 20 or more games was in 1996, when the Cardinals finished 23-15. … Teddy VanRanst (St. Paul, Minn.) was the hero of Game 1 against Augsburg Sunday, as the junior left-hander tossed a complete-game two-hitter. He took a perfect game into the fifth, when Augsburg notched both of its hits. VanRanst faced just 23 batters, walking one and striking out four. … VanRanst also had a hand in SMU's 6-5, eight-inning Game 2 win, lacing a hard grounder to second that the Augsburg second baseman struggled to handle, allowing Paul LaNasa (Mahtomedi, Minn.) to score from third with the winning run. … SMU's four Game 1 hits vs. the Auggies came from four different players, while five Cardinals — Pat Krieger (Mendota Heights, Minn.), Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.), Jon Schlemmer (De Pere, Wis.), LaNasa and Zach Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) — all had two hits to account for 10 of the team's 12 Game 2 hits. … With his pitching performance Sunday, VanRanst improved to 5-4 with a 3.06 ERA — both career-bests. … VanRanst has thrown a team-leading 53.0 innings — going at least four innings in all nine of his starts, including a team-best four complete games. … Justin Kronebush (Lewiston, Minn.) and Sam Nord (Mendota Heights, Minn.) are second on the team in wins with three each, while Kronebusch leads the squad with 33 strikeouts and is second to VanRanst in innings pitched with 44.1 … The Cardinals boast six pitchers — Nord, Sean Minder (Maplewood, Minn.), Tyler Krysiak (Bloomington, Minn.), Pat Regan (Mound, Minn.), Jake Merkle (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and Will DeBruin (Neenah, Wis.) — who have notched their first collegiate pitching wins this season. … Krysiak leads the team with four saves and is just two saves shy of the single-season record, held by Eric Van Brocklin. … Krieger heads into Wednesday's showdown with Hamline boasting a team-best .419 batting average. He is one of three Cardinals hitting above .400 — being joined by Matt Tessmer (West St. Paul, Minn. / .404) and Gannon (.403) ¬— and the trio are three of 10 SMU players hitting .300 or better. … Gannon also leads the team in at-bats (119), runs (25), hits (48), doubles (15), RBIs (30) and total bases (68). … Schlemmer owns a team-leading four triples and four home runs. … Schlemmer's four HRs have come in two games. The sophomore has recorded two-home run, five-RBI performances against Viterbo and St. Olaf this season. … SMU launched a season-high three home runs in its 11-8, Game 1 win over St. Olaf on April 18. Schlemmer hit two and Tessmer accounted for the other. … Tessmer's bomb was the first HR of his collegiate career. … Gannon and Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) join Tessmer as Cardinals who have hit their first collegiate home runs this season. Gannon hit his first collegiate home run in Game 1 against Lewis & Clark on March 10, while Wolfe's first collegiate round-tripper came against Simpson on March 8. … Matt Feriancek (River Falls, Wis.) has stolen a team-leading 17 bases on 18 attempts this season. … The Cardinals have put together two lengthy hitting streaks this season. Geraghty hit safely in 11 straight games, while Gannon is currently riding a 10-game streak. … Gannon has recorded a team-best 16 multiple-hit games — including five three-hit performances. Gannon also shares the team lead in multiple-RBI games (6) with Schlemmer. … LaNasa has recorded a team-high two four-hit games, while Schlemmer's five RBIs vs. Viterbo and St. Olaf are a single-game team-best. … Nine of SMU's 17 losses this season have been by one run. … As a team, the Cardinals have plated 202 runs in 35 games this season — including a season-high 15 runs in their 15-4 Game 2 win over Gustavus on April 14. … SMU is 15-2 when leading after the sixth inning, and are 16-2 when out-hitting its opponent. … The Cardinals enjoyed a streak-snapping four-day run from April 14-18.  SMU picked up its first conference sweep in 41 MIAC doubleheaders with their 7-6, 15-4 victories over Gustavus on April 14, then notched their first back-to-back MIAC sweeps since 2003 with 11-8, 5-3 wins over St. Olaf four days later on April 18. … SMU's sweep of Gustavus on April 14 was its first over GAC since beating the Gusties 9-3 and 6-4 on April 6, 2005. The Cardinals' last sweep of St. Olaf, meanwhile, came on April 21, 2001, when SMU beat the Oles 7-1 and 2-1. … The Cardinals' 1-0, 14-inning victory over UW-Oshkosh on March 25 was their longest game since beating Christian Brothers University 6-5 in 14 innings on March 30, 1999. … Sunday's 6-5, eight-inning win over Augsburg was the Cardinals' third extra-inning game — and third extra-inning win — this season. Along with Augsburg and UW-Oshkosh, SMU also dispatched of Lewis & Clark 14-13 in 10 innings on March 10. … With their 9-2, 5-2 victories over NCAA Division II Northern State on March 4, the Cardinals opened the season with a sweep for the first time since taking two from Valley City State to kick off the 2005 season.

Hamline Pipers News and Notes:
2012 Roster | 2012 Statistics | 2012 Schedule
Hamline's 3-2, nine-inning loss to Concordia Sunday snapped the Pipers' two-game winning streak. … Hamline enters Wednesday's games against Saint Mary's 5-5 in their last 10 games. … The Pipers' nine-inning loss to Concordia was their sixth extra-inning and their second-longest game of the season. Hamline dropped a 3-2, 16-inning contest against the University of Minnesota on March 7. … Hamline is now 1-5 in extra-inning games. … Twenty-three of the Pipers' 36 games have been decided by two runs or less — including 15 one-run games. … The Pipers were held to just five hits — by five different players in their 3-2, nine-inning loss to Concordia last Sunday, while Jordan Buck went 3-for-4 to lead HU's seven-hit Game 2 attack. … Tyler Johnson enters Wednesday's doubleheader against Saint Mary's carrying a team-best .360 batting average. … Andy King, whose .333 batting average is second t Johnson, leads the team in at-bats (123), runs (23), hits (41), doubles (9), triples (6), home runs (6), RBIs (34), total bases (60) and slugging percentage (.650). … King's six home runs are more than half of the team's 11 round-trippers this season. … Jordan Buck has been walked a team-leading 27 times. … Hamline is 35-for-48 in stolen base attempts, led by Jordan Rubbelke (8-for-13). … Dan Ellefson leads the HU pitching staff with a 2.60 ERA and a 3-5 record in a team-best 55.1 innings. … Ellefson also owns a team-high 40 strikeouts. … Casey Benford has also won three games for the Pipers, going 3-0 with a 5.06 ERA  in nine appearances. … Hamline is 1-13 when held to two runs or less. … Hamline has scored six or more runs in 10 of its 15 wins this season.